


Stupid

by An_Escaped_Rabbit



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Angst, Character Study, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-01
Updated: 2015-01-28
Packaged: 2018-02-27 16:16:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2699309
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/An_Escaped_Rabbit/pseuds/An_Escaped_Rabbit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I used to think I was an idiot." -The Empty Hearse. Maybe the past tense isn't so appropriate, and what does Mycroft think about all this? Two drabbles exploring two brothers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Sherlock

**Author's Note:**

> Remember that conversation in Empty Hearse? (You know, when they were playing Operation.) I was watching that, and, well, it got me thinking. Please tell me what you think of my thoughts. In other words, comment!

Arrogant, they call him. Haughty, they think. Stuck-up, they whisper. Sherlock Holmes is not an intelligent man. No. He is a brilliant one. And he knows it.

So they say.

He struts around, head held confidently, deductions spewing out of his ever-moving lips. He does not hesitate to strip a man of all security, to reveal all of a person's secrets, to reduce someone to nothing. In their eyes and in his.

So they say.

He is amazingly, unreachably intelligent. And he is nothing more than a show-off, displaying this intelligence at every-at any-occasion.

So they say.

They say this. They believe it. But it is wrong. Sherlock Holmes does not know he is intelligent. he does not "spew off deductions" to showcase his brilliance. No.

Sherlock Holmes is stupid.

So he thinks.

He is so vastly, mindbogglingly stupid, he knows. He's known it all his life. He knows who is smart. Mycroft is. Mycroft, his perfect older brother, for whom the hero-worship has turned into buried jealousy. Mycroft, who does not "spew off deductions", because he is smart enough not to need to.

Sherlock wants to be smart, but he is not.

So he thinks.

He desperately wants to be smart. So he solves crimes, he deduces whatever he can, in a hopeless attempt to prove to himself that he _is_ intelligent. It never works. _Mycroft wouldn't have missed that,_ an insidious voice whispers. Mycroft is smart. If Sherlock can't do what he can, Sherlock is stupid.

And Sherlock can't do what Mycroft can. He _is_ stupid.

So he thinks.

And indeed, is not what a man thinks of himself a reflection of what the man truly is?


	2. Mycroft

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How does Mycroft feel about his stupid little brother?

Mycroft Holmes? The name is met with blank looks. Who's that? Mention his brother though, and eyes light up. Sherlock Holmes, the famous detective, the boffin in the deerstalker, the man who can solve anything. What, does he have a brother?

Nobody's ever heard of a second Holmes.

Mycroft prefers it that way. Fame is not to his taste. He likes quiet power, he relishes the subtle maneuverings of the mighty. He would absolutely despise being well known. The atrocious tabloids and awestruck masses are anathema to him. He'd rather go through hours of torture than be _famous._

And yet...

Given the opportunity to trade places with Sherlock, to make his brother unknown and himself a household name...

He would switch in the blink of an eye.

He's not entirely sure why, In the depths of his mind city, he refuses to psychoanalyze himself. Oh, he knows the _reasons,_ of course. Sherlock is stupid. Sherlock is irresponsible. Sherlock cannot be trusted with his own safety, and fame only endangers that safety.

Yes, those are all the reasons. He's just not sure _why._

Why does any of this matter to him? ( _Sentiment_ , he sneers.) Why does he care so much about what happens to Sherlock? ( _Caring is not an advantage_ , he remembers saying.)

He does not know, and this worries him.


End file.
